GREENSBORO, N.C. — On Florida Street right off 29 in Greensboro, Krystal Burgos saw something that stopped her in her tracks.
“There was this white truck that stopped right in front of me. So it got off the interstate, stopped right in front of me, and out opens the driver's side door, and a dog comes tumbling out. At first, I thought maybe the dog had like jumped out on accident, but then the driver closes the door and speeds off into the interstate, does not look back. And the dog's left on the side of the road," Burgos said. "It's horrible. You know, the dog, he was friendly. He was nice. I opened my back door of my car, and the dog came up to me and approached me. It smelled me. It got right on its back. Let me rub its tummy and everything. And then it hopped into the back of my car.”
Across the country animal rights activists say more pets are being dumped. In part because of inflation. Also because people are going back to the office after COVID and a lot of other reasons including crowded shelters.
Guilford County Animal Services is always picking up strays, but if someone needs to surrender their animal Animal Services Director Jorge Ortega says the owner might have to wait a while.
“Right now we have close to 500 pets here at the shelter. So we are pretty much at capacity. So, it's calling around and finding out who can help you in taking that pet in. Sometimes there is going to be a wait," he said.
Someone might have to wait for up to a month before they can give their animal over.
“Pretty much anywhere we go, we go to the dentist, we have to wait. We go to the emergency room, we have to wait, right? So there is a process," Ortega said. "We want to help and at the end of the day, we want the best outcome for that pet.”
The shelter is working hard doing everything it can to help in the meantime including partnering with nonprofits to provide food and medicine until they can accept the animal. And they want people to know the best chance of getting that pet a new home is by waiting for a spot to open up.
“We can sit down and talk with you and get that information to help that dog or that cat find a new home. If you have vet records, if you have the history, is he trained? Does he know tricks? Just any and all information you can share about your pet to the staff working at that that organization will help with that transition of that surrender," Ortega said.
Krystal ended up taking the dog from Florida Street over to animal services. The shelter named the dog Boomer Dakota. Right now he's on a hold in case his owner comes looking for him. If not they hope down the road he’ll get a new home full of love.
Here’s one of the reasons for this issue: Boomer Dakota is one of hundreds of stray pets the shelter has taken in right now. You see the website and it makes you so sad and you want to help. You should know this is the situation at shelters all over North Carolina right now. They are working hard to fix the issue including at Guilford County Animal Services. They all need donations. And most animal groups need foster parents.
Ortega also says please before you get a pet make sure you’re ready for the expense and time they require.
This comes after a spike in pet surrenders. Here's our story from one year ago documenting the problem: